Device for Mounting the Guide Sleeve of a Drive Cable for a Sliding Top of an Automobile Roof

The invention relates to a device for mounting the guide sleeve of a pressure-resistant drive cable for a sliding top of an automotive vehicle roof, this sliding top being covered toward the inside by a displaceable headliner, wherein the guide sleeve has a longitudinal slot, and the drive cable is attached, by means of a retaining device penetrating the longitudinal slot, to a transport bridge connected to the sliding top.

In conventional sliding roofs of the aforementioned type (DOS [German Unexamined Laid-Open Application] No. 2,461,018) the guide sleeve is supported only at its rear end and extends freely forwardly from its bearing point when the sliding top is pushed back entirely. Thereby, the guide sleeve can commence to oscillate, excited by vehicle vibrations, and give rise to noise by hitting the sliding top as well as the sliding top headliner.

To avoid such oscillations, it is conventional (German Pat. No. 1,228,950) to guide the guide sleeve telescopically in a tube attached to the sliding top. This solution is useless, in particular, for sliding roofs consisting of transparent material with a sliding dome displaceable independently thereof, since this tube, when the sliding top is entirely or partially closed while the sliding dome is pushed back, would be visible from the inside.

Finally, it is known in an automobile roof having a transparent sliding top (DAS [German Published Application] No. 2,502,775) to provide a bearing for the forward end of the guide sleeve on a fixed partition covering the rearward edge of the roof cutout between the sliding top and the sliding headliner. A prerequisite for such a bearing is, therefore, the presence of the aforementioned partition which represents an additional component.

The invention is based on the problem of providing a device for supporting the guide sleeve usable in connection with transparent as well as opaque sliding tops which, except for one bearing element, requires or presupposes no additional parts.

This problem is solved in accordance with this invention by arranging a guide means at the sliding headliner which supports the guide sleeve at least in the pushed-back position of the sliding headliner. The guide means can be attached so that it receives, in the pushed-back condition of the sliding headliner, the forward end of the guide sleeve, but in many cases a support at a spacing from the forward end will be sufficient, if the remaining, cantilevered section of the guide sleeve is so short that it cannot execute any appreciable oscillations. The guide means should extend in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle at least over half the width, but preferably over almost the entire width, of the sliding headliner.

A tubular bearing member can serve as the guide means, this member encompassing the guide sleeve with a sliding fit. In case of a sliding roof wherein the sliding headliner can be independently displaced, the bearing member is provided with a longitudinal slot which coincides in its position with the longitudinal slot of the guide sleeve, so that the retaining means for the drive cable can extend through the longitudinal slot and the sliding headliner can be pushed backwards even when the sliding top is closed. This is advantageous in case of sliding tops of a transparent material.

Alternatively, the guide means can be formed by a longitudinal groove arranged in the topside of the sliding headliner, a sliding block joined to the guide sleeve engaging this groove.

The bearing member consists preferably of a synthetic resin to avoid rattling noises. Alternatively, other known noise-damping measures can be provided, such as plastic coatings or fibrous coverings, on the bearing member or optionally also on the guide sleeve. To reduce friction, the bearing surface can be reduced by grooves so that this surface is formed only by the thus-produced ribs or webs. These webs can receive the guide sleeve elastically, especially in case of short bearing members.

These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purposes of illustration only, several embodiments in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a partial sectional view of a sliding roof for a vehicle in the longitudinal plane of symmetry of the vehicle with a first embodiment of the invention, wherein the sliding top is in its closed position;

FIG. 2 shows a partial view similar to FIG. 1 with the sliding top and sliding headliner pushed back;

FIG. 3 shows a section along line III--III in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 shows a section similar to FIG. 3 with a second embodiment of the invention.

In FIGS. 1-3, numeral 1 denotes the fixed vehicle roof having a roof cutout 2 which can be closed off by a sliding top 3; in this embodiment, the sliding top consists of glass or another transparent material. The sliding top 3 is illustrated in FIG. 1 in the closed condition and can be pushed, to uncover the roof aperture 2, rearwardly underneath the fixed roof portion, namely into the position shown in FIG. 2. The sliding top 3 is guided close to its front edge on both sides by means of sliding blocks, not shown, in rails 4 (FIG. 3), attached on the inner wall 5a of a drain groove 5 surrounding the roof aperture 2. In the zone of its rear end, the sliding top 3 is hingedly joined to a transport bridge 6 displaceable in the same rails 4. A pressure-resistant drive cable 7 is attached to the transport bridge 6; this cable is guided in a guide sleeve 8, which is attached to the fixed roof portion and has a longitudinal slot, and can be displaced in one or the other longitudinal direction manually or by means of an electric motor. The cable 7 is attached to the transport bridge 6 by means of a clamp 9 which, as shown in FIG. 3, penetrates the longitudinal slot 8a of the guide sleeve 8 and is threadedly connected to the transport bridge 6. During the displacement of the transport bridge 6 by the drive cable 7, the sliding top 3 is entrained by a lever mechanism 10, which latter is shown only schematically.

The sliding top 3 is covered toward the inside by a sliding headliner 11 which, at least when the sliding top 3 is closed, can be displaced independently of the latter, in order to be able to adjust the amount of light entering through the sliding top 3 as desired. For this purpose, the sliding headliner 11 is guided along its lateral edges in guide rails 12 extending in parallel to the rails 4 and arranged on the inside of the inner wall 5a of the drain channel 5.

The guide sleeve 8 is connected at its end on the right-hand side as seen in FIG. 2 to the fixed roof portion and is otherwise held normally only by the drive cable 7 firmly connected to transport bridge 6, so that when the sliding top 3 is pushed back (FIG. 2), a considerable length of the guide sleeve 8 is without support and can execute oscillations. To avoid this drawback, the guide sleeve 8 is guided with its forward section, i.e. the one on the left-hand side in FIGS. 1 and 2, in a tubular bearing member 13 arranged on the topside of the sliding headliner 11 and extending across more than half the width of the sliding headliner--as seen in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The tubular bearing member 13 has a longitudinal slot, just like the guide sleeve 8, in order to allow the fastening clamp 9 of the drive cable 7 at the transport bridge 6 to penetrate and to make it possible to displace the sliding headliner 11 when the sliding top 3 is closed. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the bearing member 13 receives the end of the guide sleeve 8 on the left-hand side in the drawing when the sliding headliner 11 is closed. With the sliding headliner opened completely (FIG. 2), the left-hand end of the guide sleeve 8 projects from the bearing member 13 (see FIG. 2). However, this projecting section is so short that it cannot execute any oscillations which could lead to noise.

The bearing member 13 is preferably made of a synthetic resin having a low friction coefficient, in order not to impede the shifting of the sliding headliner 11 unduly. To reduce the friction, the inner surface of the bearing member receiving the guide sleeve 8 could be provided with longitudinal grooves.

Of course, many modifications of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-3 are possible without departing from the scope of this invention. Thus, instead of a single bearing member 13 extending over a substantial portion of the width of the sliding headliner 11, it would be possible to provide several individual, mutually aligned bearing members. Since a support for the end of the guide sleeve 8 on the left-hand side in FIGS. 1 and 2 is necessary, above all, when the sliding top 3 has been displaced entirely or extensively into its open position according to FIG. 2, it could be sufficient in certain cases for avoiding oscillations of the guide sleeve 8 to provide a short bearing member at the level of the left-hand end of the bearing member 13 in FIG. 2. To facilitate the insertion of the guide sleeve 8 into such a bearing member, it would be advantageous to fashion the opening in the bearing member which receives the guide sleeve to be funnel-shaped on the side of the bearing member facing the guide sleeve when the sliding headliner 11 is closed.

Another modification is shown in FIG. 4; in this embodiment, an undercut longitudinal groove 15 in the topside of the sliding headliner 11a, the latter consisting for example of a synthetic resin panel, serves for guiding the guide sleeve 8. The base 16 of a sliding block 17 engages this longitudinal groove 15; the sliding block is fixedly connected to the guide sleeve 8.

While we have shown and described several embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it is understood that the same is not limited thereto but is susceptible of numerous changes and modifications as known to those skilled in the art and we therefore do not wish to be limited to the details shown and described herein but intend to cover all such changes and modifications as are encompassed by the scope of the appended claims.